For RIM, BlackBerry 10 event on Jan. 30 will be make-or-break moment

RIM BlackBerry 10 launch: Jan. 30 will be make-or-break moment

A countdown to the dawn of a new era has finally begun for Research In Motion Ltd.

On Monday, RIM revealed it plans to hold a special event on Jan. 30, 2013 where the embattled technology giant will launch its long-delayed BlackBerry 10 operating system, at the same time unveiling two new BlackBerry smartphones.

By scheduling the launch, RIM has provided the most concrete commitment to date that the company is on track to launch a new generation of BlackBerry devices in the first quarter of next year, as chief executive Thorsten Heins has repeatedly promised investors.

For many BlackBerry fans and RIM shareholders, Jan. 30 is now circled in their calendars to mark the beginning of the next chapter for the Waterloo, Ont. company, for better or for worse.

After more years of turmoil and delays, the technology world will finally get a chance to see if RIM has what it takes to execute the turnaround its leaders — both Mr. Heins and the since-ousted CEO tandem of Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis — have been promising.

Of course, questions about whether RIM is capable of establishing itself as a legitimate third platform behind Apple Inc.’s iOS and Google Inc.’s Android, whether developers will embrace the platform en masse and whether consumers will gravitate towards the RIM’s redesigned BlackBerry devices all remain unanswered.

“Thanks to our strong partnerships with global carriers and a growing ecosystem of developers, we believe our customers will have the best experience possible with BlackBerry 10,” Mr. Heins said in a press release. “We are looking forward to getting BlackBerry 10 in the hands of our customers around the world.”

There are still a couple hurdles: When the units are going to be on sale and how much they’re going to cost

RIM has said it plans to unveil two different BlackBerry smartphones on Jan. 30 — one featuring a full touchscreen interface, and a second featuring a more traditional BlackBerry-style QWERTY keyboard — but further device specifics and pricing details remain to be seen.

It’s also unclear whether RIM plans to make the devices publicly available shortly after Jan. 30 — in a manner similar to how Apple tends to open up new iPhones for pre-order shortly after its product announcements — or if the launch date will come some time later, as RIM has done in the past.

The announcement did little to move shares of RIM on Wall Street (up roughly 3%), where RIM’s stock remains down roughly 85% from its January 2011 level, with many analysts remaining unconvinced of RIM’s ability to reassert itself as a major power in the global smartphone game against international powerhouses like Apple, Google and Samsung Electronics Ltd.

Indeed, last week, James Faucette, a financial analyst for Pacific Crest in Portland, Oregon said RIM’s new BlackBerry 10 platform would be “dead on arrival.”

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When RIM finally does launch the first BlackBerry devices to run on BlackBerry 10, it will mark the first wholly new smartphones from the embattled Waterloo, Ont.-based company since it overhauled its entire BlackBerry lineup in 2011.

“It’s great to see that they’re going to have the parties in January, but there are still a couple hurdles: When the units are going to be on sale and how much they’re going to cost,” said Colin Gillis, a financial analyst with BGC Partners in New York.